25 000 Drams Christianity in Armenia

Artsakh — the self-declared republic controlling the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave — began issuing commemorative coinage in the mid-1990s partly as an assertion of institutional legitimacy during its unrecognized status following the 1994 ceasefire with Azerbaijan. This piece marks the 1700th anniversary of Armenia's adoption of Christianity in 301 AD, when King Tiridates III converted under the influence of Gregory the Illuminator, making Armenia the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion.

The choice of this subject by an unrecognized authority is pointed — Armenian Christian identity was central to Artsakh's political self-justification throughout the conflict.